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My UltraRunning log
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I'll be honest with you, I have absolutely no idea what time I'm going to finish, cos I quite literally haven't done the training. But the way things have been going, I will struggle to go any slower that 7:30, even if that means I burn-out at mile 28. So i'll be heading out at 7:30/mile, and will see where that gets me. If I thought there were somebody else's crisps at one of the food stations, I'd probably go out at 7 min/mile.OK, name your flavour and the first to mile 32 gets the crisps.
Could you perhaps be planning to finish a bit faster than 5:15?
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Sunday
Summary: 63.3 KM in 4:59:30 (4:43 pace) in Connemera Ultra.
Preparation
Day started with a wake-up call from the hotel at 5AM. Immediately downed two Go energy bars and a banana and as much water as I could drink. Got up, put on my race kit for a final rehearsal and headed off along the banks of the Corrib at easy pace. Before the Berlin Marathon I discovered that my ankle needed some additional protection and switched to a thick woollen sock to tray and absorb some additional impact but on this occasion I felt that I could not optimize any further. Everything felt very comfortable and I was moving very easily, benefitting from a 6 day break since the last serious run.
Galway is an easy enough city to navigate with the Corrib and sea as landmarks but I managed to take a wrong turning somewhere along the way in the darkness and the Garmin registered almost 4k by the time I had found the correct route and was back at the hotel. Showered, finalized my kit bag and headed up the Cathedral Park for the awaiting buses to the start. People were very subdued on the bus on the road to Maam and nervous at the challenge each of us had taken on.
Kit
1 pair of Brooks marathon shorts with side pockets for gels.
1 SIS marathon belt.
1 boards singlet.
1 long sleeved Peruvian fake designer top discarded just before start.
1 Adrenaline Brooks Stability shoe
1 pair of Nike Dri-Fit socks (very thin with good wicking).
Covered sole of feet and all the obvious places with Bodyglide lubrication before the race.
Note: no head covering which was a mistake. I underestimated how hot 19 degrees heat would feel with no shade for 5 hours.
Nutrition.
Packet of Gu electrolyte chomps (used 5 of 8) at approx 25 calories each stored in marathon belt.
Drop1 (10 Mile)
1 Lucozade sport 140 calories
1 viper bar (dropped and never used)
1 power gel (120 calories)
Drop 2 (22 mile)
1 Lucozade sport 140 calories
1 SIS Go Bar 225 calories
1 Gu Gel 140
1 tube factor 40 sun block.
Drop 3 (34 mile)
1 Lucozade sport 140 calories
1 viper bar (dropped and never used)
1 power gel (120 calories)
Skipped on the day because practically everyone seemed to have used this drop and I believed it would be impossible to find my stuff.
Total intake = 5*25+140 +120+ 140+225+140 = 890
Total calories burned = approx 4000
Net deficit = 3110
I got a surprise when I did this exercise after the race by checking calorie count on the web. Might have been a good idea to do it beforehand. Even allowing for full carbo loading before the race, you can see I was not taking in nearly enough calories.
You won’t be able to absorb enough calories in an Ultra to match your energy expenditure but I was able to absorb solid substantial food immediately after the race and I know now I could have coped with taking more calories during it (and had a spare pair of shorts waiting for me just over the finishing line just in case I could not) .
Race
Headed off the bus into the race headquarters with nearly an hour to spare and put my stuff into the drop bins. Then recognized Krusty Clown who introduced me to a few other boardies and I was happy to have company for a while to chatter to and ease away to the nerves. Headed off then on the bus 1 mile up the road and even at that time of day where a haze kept the temperature down, you could see how hot it was going to be.
I headed up to the start to see the lead runners surge away and because I wanted to keep my watch time in synch with the clock time in case the chip system failed.
I was surprised with how quickly everyone headed off. I had expected my 4:30 first KM to put me in top 10 based on the positions from the previous year but I say I was around 25th. Pace felt very comfortable since I had gauged it by marathon running standards and initial third of the course is quite flat. I was running on my own for most of the initial section of the main road to Clifden - I could see a group of 5 runners immediately about 150 metres ahead running about the same 4:35 pace as myself, but I calculated that the effort in closing the gap would come back to bite me later, so I concentrated in staying in touch with them at this point.
10 mile came quicker than I expected and with it my first drop (details as above). I had focussed on a Lucozade bottle in the drop and was just about to pick it up when I noticed someone’s else’s name on it and looked in panic for my own one. I had concluded that it was not there and was about to head off until I saw it hidden behind another bulky drop and took it in relief. Immediately the Luzozade give me a lift.
I had wasted quite a bit of time at the drop location and was overtaken by two English runners and we ran together for the next 5 miles. The Viper bar fell out of my pocket and I decided to keep running which was a mistake since it had always given me a big lift in training and I definitely missed it later.
The next section was the most enjoyable section of the race. I was glad of the company and as others have pointed out the pace in Ultras is reduced of necessity to the level where it possible to chat quite easily. At this point the sun was not warm enough to be oppressive and there was a beautiful glow over the mountains which you could see reflected in the lake. We passed the marathon start at around 1:38 and rapidly caught up with the back markers. I had anticipated that the additional congestion would be undesirable but while a lot of weaving was required to progress when we hit the half marathon section later, at this point there was plenty of room of the course to run fast without feeling hemmed in or restricted.
I did however lose my two friends somewhere along the way and was all alone by the time we hit my second drop at mile 20. Unlike before, I had no difficulty in finding my pack but I realized I had made a poor choice. I found the Go bar very unappetising and difficult to carry and had made a basic error of not trying the Gu Gel before the race. For the moment I tucked it in my shorts pocket for future use of which more later.
Almost simultaneously we hit our first proper hill of the day which would have been about 200 feet gain spread out over a mile. On this occasion, I had no problems ascending it and managed to nearly maintain my average race without taking too much out of myself . We then had a long descent to Leenane to the half marathon start which I crossed at around 3:14 from what I can reconstruct later from the Garmin.
I had upped my own target from 5:15 to 5:00 a few weeks before the race when I could see how comfortably I was coping with the hills on a double long run. I had expected though the target to be tough and realistically expected to get quite close but finish a stone’s throw away (and take out the 5 hours target in a subsequent year). I felt really confident through by the point I crossed the half-marathon start . My training since December had been focused very specifically on running up hills at a reasonable pace whilst tired. I think I could run the half marathon in around 1:26 in a race and the remaining target of 1:46 therefore seemed more than adequate since I did not feel particularly tired, had little muscle damage and while my left knee was getting sorer (an injury I had carried into the race), I knew I could run through it.
The first doubt occurred when I hit the steep hill after Leenane. I had expected to run it at 5 minute pace but could only manage 5:19. This was the only section of the race where I considered taking a walking break since although the hill was steep, it was quite short compared with the later Hell Of The West. I realized however that it would be a bad habit to get into and if once I started doing it I would be tempted to do the same thing later which would have a big impact on the eventual time.
While I felt the marathon runners had pulled me along with them, the entry of the walkers and half marathon runners made the course feel very congested particularly at the start. It somehow felt unfair that I had to run up hills to meet my target while they were allowed to walk and I had to do a lot of weaving to get through the congestion which sapped the energy.
I did not notice the wind as having any effect on the half marathon stage although some others have mentioned it as being significant. I think the congestion on the half made an effective windbreak. However it was getting hotter by this point and for the first time ever in a race my stomach felt a bit wobbly. I really wanted to keep things as stable as possible and reduced the water I was taking in (which was silly) to a few mouthfuls at each water station and I chucked away the marathon belt with the remaining Gu chumps. This gave me a psychological lift and feeling of freedom as I could no longer feel the elastic biting into my waist even though the weight was minimal.
I started to do the maths. I knew I was slowing even though I had sustained little muscle damage which was the problem on previous marathon attempts. I believe the problem was a calorie deficit and also I found out after the marathon finished that I was a lot more dehydrated than I realized. I never felt near exhaustion but the power in my legs was gradually diminishing. We then hit the famous Hell of the West and I took my last gel to give me a lift. However, it was much more concentrated than the Powergels I am used to and I failed to take enough water to wash it down with. As a result all it did was unsettle my stomach further and I never felt any energy release from it.
The remainder of the race was like solving a differential equation. I knew I was slowing, I knew I had a buffer, and I knew I needed to get to the end of the race before the buffer ran out and I went over the 5 hour mark. I felt I was Ok at the foot of the hill but gradually grew less so as I went up it and failed to achieve anything like the pace I was managing doing in training.
Around me there were a lot of people in distress and gasping as they struggled with the hill but I was not going fast enough to get out of breath as I did a good imitation of an underpowered Lada. We reached the top of the hill and I did my sums again, I needed to convert distance from the mile markers to the KM pace displayed on the Garmin and I was not at my sharpest at that point. I now had the downhill though to assist me, muscles still felt fairly flexible and I thought I had a minute still to play with. I relaxed my body as much as possible and tried to push on. I was only going at 4:40 pace (about a minute slower than I could manage if fresh on a downhill) but it was enough. I now was back running on pace and no longer eating into the buffer. When I saw the clock, It realized it was a bit closer than I had estimated. I had not accounted for the time taken at the food drops since the Garmin was configured to stop the clock while I was not moving. I managed a last sprint and cross the finishing line in 4:59:30
Aftermath.
To be honest, I felt a bit flat at the end. In Berlin, at halfway I thought my target was gone and I got increasingly excited as I got it back on target and then exceeded it. This time, I had very nearly blown it and was just relieved to have slipped under the 5 hour barrier.
The organization at the end of the race was every bit as good as what went before. All credit to the organizers for managing the whole event flawlessly and in particular making sure enough water was distributed which otherwise could have turned the half section into carnage.
We had a special area for the Ultra runners and I had a chat with Mick Rice, Aaron the runner immediately me who would probably have caught me if his hamstring had not given out on the final descent, and Krusty and Thomas who arrived shortly afterwards.
I think I finished in 10th place based on the provisional timings which surprised me since I can only remember passing out 4 runners since the marathon start and I thought I was in about 20th place at that point.
I doubt I will run the race again, excellent run though it is. There is no natural time target to aim for once 5 hours is achieved, targeting a place does not make sense in a small race since the outcome is determined by how many elite runners decide to turn up on the day, and the schedule clashes with both the Wicklow Way Ultra and Boston Marathon both of which I really want to attempt while I can still run at a reasonable level.
The immediate plans are rest for a week and then I hope to get back doing some speed workouts and maybe take out some PBs over the shorter distances.
I have entered the Laugavegur Ultra marathon race in Iceland in July, but the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano is currently erupting very close to the route (around 10 miles distance ) so these plans might need to be altered.
Dingle Ultra in September also looks quite tasty but I think will need a different approach in both training and race execution to be run successfully.0 -
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